2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

Baptism of Spirit

"Now, concerning pneumatics, πνευματικα, brethren, I would not that ye be ignorant."

àHaving, then, obtained a divine rule, and therefore an infallible one, by which to discern spirits, we are not to be imposed upon by pretenders to spirit, and what they call baptism of spirit. They know nothing correctly about the subject, because they do not give heed to the apostolic teaching.

They only tasted of the powers of the future course of things who had been guided into the truth; and so now, if any man say he hath the spirit in its powers or manifestations; or that he has been converted or born of the spirit; try him by conversing with him about what the apostles taught for faith and practice; and if you find that he is ignorant, you may then certainly know that he is an impostor, deceiving or deceived, or both; he is a false spirit, having never drank into the spirit of God.

A man truly and scripturally enlightened would never claim to be baptized of spirit in the dry time that intervenes between the early and latter rains. He claims only to have been begotten of the truth which is spirit, not to be indued with any of its baptismal powers.

"Spirits," then, is a word apostolically used to designate the gifts of the spirit of God; and those who undertook to teach by the spirit. Of the former, there were "diversities;" and of the latter, two classes. The diversities in the aggregate made up the baptism of holy spirit, which was given for administrations and operations. These exhibitions of power were styled collectively "The manifestation of the Spirit."

The powers were not given to any one for his own private benefit, but for the general use and benefit of the Body of Christ; as it is written,

"to every one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the collective good"—

πρό το συμ ερον. This is an important feature in the case. People who pretend to be the subjects of spirit baptism can adduce nothing else but their feelings which all terminate in themselves. No one is profited by any thing they pretend to have received. Not a single scriptural idea do they possess more than before their pretended baptism; nor have they a single power they had not before. They are as ignorant and perverse as ever, and as hostile to the truth when laid before them as pagans.

Not so with the apostolic believer. When he was baptized with holy spirit, he acquired wisdom and knowledge which was advantageous to all who lacked them; he had the gift of faith by which he could remove mountains, if the good of the body collectively required it; he could heal the sick; in work powers; speak to the brethren to edification, exhortation, and comfort, no mean accomplishment in an apostolic community.

He could discern spirits, and so protect and warn the unlearned against the imposition of the false apostles that would certainly arise. He could speak the languages of the nations without previous study, and in them make known the wonderful works of the Deity: all these things the spiritually baptized could do for the benefit of those who were not so baptized and of the Jews and heathen roundabout.

Such a baptism as this nowhere exists upon earth in these times; yet every congregation of believers could glory in such an indwelling of the deity among them by his Spirit in the days of Paul.—Eph. 2:22.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Nov 1861

3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

Though I Give My Body to Be Burned

Martyrdom during the second seal period (Rev 6)

Such "miserable sinners," styling themselves "christians," abound in our time; multitudes of whom, tired of the troubles of life, would joyfully suffer death under the delusion that by giving their worthless bodies to be burned, they would by a brief torment acquire posthumous notoriety, and hide a multitude of sins. All this voluntary martyrdom was the result of ignorance and misdirected zeal.

It was no proof of the sufferers being Christ's Brethren. We may admit the piety and sincerity of many of them; but Paul has taught us that giving the body to be burned is no equivalent for the want of that "love," which he, after the teaching of the Christ, says is "the fulfilling of the law" -- hoping and believing all the things testified in the truth (1 Cor. 13). Martyrdom, then, is no proof of a man's being in Christ; and without being in him, he cannot be a christadelphian.

The most it proves is the sincerity and devotion of the martyr to his profession, whatever that may be. Hence, the martyrdom of Huss, Jerome, Cranmer, Servetus, and such like, proved the sincerity of their anti-romish and anti-calvinistic opinions; it did not alter the fact of their being eminently pious members of the Apostasy; the stain of which cannot be obliterated by body-burning, but only by an intelligent belief and obedience of the truth.

Eureka 6.2.7

I will kill her children with death

"I will give unto every one of you according to your works."

àThis was the principal cause of those terrible persecutions so frequent in the reigns of the pagan emperors. They were "judgment beginning at the house of God;" and while many of the Lord's servants no doubt suffered, ecclesiastical history justifies the conclusion that its severity fell principally on the children of Jezebel.

The desire of martydom became a madness, and instead of fleeing from one city when persecuted, to another for safety, as the Lord advised, they sought death by the fiercest torments in expiation of their sins.

The Nicolaitan, Balaam, and Jezebel communities, which were indeed one and the same, are styled by the Lord Jesus "a synagogue of the Satan," συναγογη τον Σατάα. They called themselves Jews; but were not such in reality. The congregation in Smyrna numbered such among its members, but the King of the Jews refused to recognize them as belonging to his people, styling them liars and blasphemers.

Addressing that society and its sister in Philadelphia, he says,

"I know the blasphemy of them who say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie, and are of the synagogue of the adversary." Rev. 2:9; 3:9.

Let the reader mark this well, that for a nominal Christian to claim to be a Jew, and that claim prove to be unscriptural, the Lord Jesus pronounces him to be a blasphemer, a liar, and a member of the adversary's synagogue.

There are very few professors now-a-days but are more zealous to prove that they have no relationship to things Jewish than that they are Jews. They have no idea that the doctrine of Christ places them in any sort of connection with Israel, or Israel's commonwealth. They feel and speak as the enemies of Israel, and care no more for Jerusalem than for Bagdad or Samarcand.

There are some, however, who claim to be Jews to the exclusion of the whole Jewish nation; appropriating all the promises of good for Israel to themselves, and all the curses of God to Jacob. They call themselves "the Israel of God," true Israelites, and the genuine seed of Abraham; while they are as blind as bats, and faithless as sectarian pietism can make them of the "salvation" which "is of the Jews."

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Dec 1857

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4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

....a selfish individual will not enter into the kingdom of God. We must look not every man on his own things, but also on the things of other. Consider others; serve others. Be like Christ, of whom it is testified that he came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. Kindness consists in doing things that are for the well-being, convenience, and comfort of others; and it is part of the duty of those who are Christ's, to distinguish themselves in this way.

If, having a knowledge of the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Christ, we are still outside these acts of kindness, our knowledge is but an inert principle, which will not save us. Faith without works is dead. The kingdom of God will be the administration of the law of kindness; the things concerning the name of Jesus Christ are but the doctrinal development of divine kindness.

The truth is, therefore, a system of kindness; and what has that person to do with it who is not himself kind? We are not to judge. But every man who has not the spirit of Christ, is none of his. Therefore a true Christadelphian—a true brother of Christ, is not one who merely holds the truth theoretically—who takes hold of Christadelphianism in opposition to other religions; but is a man of benevolence begotten of the truth—a man who does good to others; a man who serves not himself, but is in this a true follower of Christ, who served not himself.

TC 12/1869.

5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

We are in a very disjointed condition at present. Men are on all hands imperfect, and, of course, brethren too; and if we do not clothe ourselves with something of divine magnanimity that puts up with the frailties and shortcomings of men, we shall never get on at all.

We have to shut our eyes to a great deal. We need not give countenance to faults, but we must not be too critical; we must forbear much and pass things by, or we shall only make a bad job worse. Charity hides a multitude of sins. It exhibits solicitude towards one's neighbour; it looks not only to one's own things, but about the things of others and is rather prone to put a good construction (where such is possible) upon a man's actions, than a bad one.

Seasons 1.46.

6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in [with - YLT] the truth;

This question of charity is much misapplied. It is beautiful - indispensable - that we be charitable; but charity must run on legitimate lines. Let us be charitable to the utmost with our own things: we have no right to be charitable with the things of God, His ways, or His words. He that hath My Word, saith God, let him speak it faithfully.

What would be thought of a revenue officer dispensing alms out of the government funds, or relaxing the claim of dues out of kindly feeling? He must apply to his own purse to meet the claims of charity.

People have no right to be charitable with the Truth of God < that is to hide it, or cloak it, or modify it for the sake of the feelings of men. Yet this is where the cry of charity is always raised; and, as a rule, it is raised by those who are not distinguished by charity in the regulation of their own affairs.

If a man encroach on their rights, if a man do them an injury, if a man speak evil of them; oh, then, there is flaming zeal in duty to myself; but duty to God < well, that is something they are prepared to be very charitable with.

Let us get away from this fog and see that it is not uncharity but the plainest duty and the highest charity to say that men have no hope by nature, and that they can only acquire hope by submission to the institutions apostolically promulgated 1,800 years ago - which consist, in brief, in faith in the apostles testimony concerning Christ, and obedience to the commandments they delivered in his name.

When this ground is clearly taken, there will be more readiness to insist upon the whole truth as the basis of fellowship with the professed believers in the Gospel of Christ, and less disinclination to take the logical issue and all its responsibilities, as the hopeless position of all who are seeking the favour of God in any other way than the way of His own appointment.

Seasons 2.14.

8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

The spirit-rain of the Pentecostian era

was bestowed upon certain of the saints to qualify them officially, that they might exercise the gifts for the public benefit—"for the building up of the body of the Christ." Paul tells us how long this arrangement was to continue. "Till," says he,

"we shall come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God—into a perfect man; into a measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ."

This limits the gifts to the above apostolic saints; that is to those contemporary with the apostles, but who may have nevertheless outlived them many years. He testifies to this effect very plainly in 1 Cor. 13:8, where he speaks of the cessation of the baptismal gifts of prophesying, of tongues, and of the word of knowledge; "prophecies," says he,

"shall be brought to an end; tongues shall be caused to cease; knowledge shall pass away."

This was finally accomplished when the spirit spued the Laodicean community out of his mouth. The spirit-baptism was withheld because its gifts were abused, as every other good has been that has been committed to the guardianship of flesh and blood.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Nov 1861

9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 

...when το τελειον perfection comes, then το εκ μερουζ that which is in part shall be annulled."—13:9. 10.

Now, εκ μερουζ rendered "in part" ... is the same phrase as in 1 Cor. 12:27, is translated "in particular, " and refers to the same thing; namely, to the partial manifestation of the Spirit through the Spiritual Men of the congregations; which consisted of those to whom the Spirit severally divided the gifts as he pleased (12:11; ) and the ιδιωτοι idiōtoi, or those "occupying the room of the private person," or plebeian; rendered "the unlearned" in ch. 14:16.

These two classes of the Temple of God, the public, and the private, brethren, having been all, by the spirit's teaching through the apostles, baptised into one body (ch. 12:13) constituted that body in Christ; but the public brethren were "the members in particular, " the foot, the ear, the eye, the hand, the nose, the tongue, &c.,—of the whole; and constituted thus by the special gifts, called "spiritual."

This was an imperfect state of the "One Body," whose prophesyings, faculty of speaking foreign languages, and revelations, were individual, or "in part, " and not general. But there is a time approaching, when το τελειον perfection will have come; and then the Body of Christ will no longer "know in part, and prophecy in part, " as in apostolic times; but all the individuals then composing it, will, without exception, be qualified in a higher degree than the apostolic "members in particular;" so that the least in the kingdom of the heavens will be endowed with greater accomplishments than all the Spiritual Men of Paul's day put together.

In the apostle's day, even with the Spirit's manifestations through a part of the body, or "members in particular," they could only say,

"We see at present by a mirror in an ænigma, but then (when the reality is manifested) face to face; now I am skilled γενωσκω (speaking for the Body,) εκ μερονζ (by mirror-like partial manifestation) but then (when perfection is come) I shall know perfectly επιγινωσομαι as also I shall be known perfectly," having then attained perfection by resurrection unto incorruptibility and life.—Phil. 3:11, 12; Luke 13:32.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, June 1856

10 But when that which is perfect is come ,<perfection comes>., then that which is in part shall be done away <annulled>.

The age of the apostles was the childhood, youth and manhood of the "one body." This body attained the perfection of manhood when all its members came "into the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God." This "unity" was perfected when the Lord sent them a revelation of the times and seasons, by his servant John.—Rev. 1:1.

The faith and knowledge were then summed up in what we now call the Bible, which came to supersede the "Ministration of the Spirit" in a hierachy. Spiritual gifts were withdrawn, and "faith, hope and love" alone remained. Thus, "that which was in part was done away."

Spiritual gifts had answered their purpose. They had enabled Christianity to strike its roots deeply into society, so that no power could eradicate it entirely. God had presented his heritages with a complete book; and he now said to them, "testify,"

"overcome the great red dragon by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of your testimony, and love not your lives unto the death."—Rev. 12:11.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Dec 1856

The body of Christ, whether considered under the figure of a man or a house, belongs to two states; to that before the resurrection, and to that after it. In its former state it has its infancy and manhood. In the days of the apostles the institution was in its infancy, childhood, and, in the time of John's old age and exile, manhood, being three score years and ten.

During these years its administrations were in part, that part consisting of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers; so that the knowledge and the prophesyings were in part and not distributed to every member of the body. But in process of time that perfection came by which the body could sustain itself without the baptismal gifts; and then

"that which was in part was done away."

The manifestation of the spirit being withheld, all that remained to the body was

"faith, hope, and love; these three; the greatest of which is love"

as defined by Paul in 1 Cor. 13: 4–7. There was a manhood when the baptismal gifts ceased; and there shall be a manhood when we shall know experimentally even as we have known theoretically. This is the post-resurrectional maturity of the "perfect man," or body of Christ, every member of which will see "face to face."

That which is perfect will have come in the full sense

3. -- The Apostolic Ministry.

To make the communities of Christ's brethren effective for their objects, Christ, by the Spirit, appointed and qualified a variety of officials, in the first century, whom Paul enumerates as -- 1, apostles; 2, prophets; 3, teachers; 4, miracles; 5, gifts of healing; 6, helps; 7, governments; 8, diversity of tongues. Their appointment by the Spirit made them the responsible overseers of the one body, whom the members were bound to obey. This ministration of the Spirit, and this presence of divine authority in the ecclesias, continued during the days of the apostles, and the generation next ensuing.

After that, an apostacy arose in the apostolic community, after the analogy of the case of Israel, in their first settlement of Canaan; who "served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord that he did for Israel" (Jude vii).

The apostacy prevailed more and more, as the Apostles, by the spirit, predicted would be the case (2 Tim. iv 1-4 ; ii 17), until all trace of primitive truth disappeared, and the spirit of the Lord was withdrawn from all association with an empty Christian name. Whatever genuine profession may have existed since then, has not been honoured by a return of the Spirit's witnessing and governing presence.

The Ecclesial Guide